About Chris Heeter

A lifelong outdoors person, there’s only one thing Chris loves more than spending time in nature – helping others rekindle their love of the outdoors.

Whether guiding trips, speaking, or coaching, Chris draws on more than 40 years of experience hiking, camping, canoeing, star gazing, mushroom hunting, dog sledding, and more.

Raised in Illinois – by her mother, an ordained minister and canoe guide, and her father, a corporate executive and avid mushroom hunter – Chris, who now lives on 7 acres of land outside Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota, carries on their love of the outdoors.

She heats her home with wood, gardens organically, and shares her life with many four and two-legged loved ones.  She began learning to run sled dogs with 3 Siberian Huskies in 1989 and lived with and helped train, breed, and care for a team of 14 Alaskan Huskies for over a decade.  She's raced in the John Beargrease rec race (38 miles) twice, but finds she much prefers to keep her competitive spirit on the basketball court and leave running sled dogs to the realm of teaching and appreciating the beauty of the northwoods and the amazing spirit of the dogs.

Chris is the founder of The Wild Institute, a national organization committed to connecting people to nature, themselves, and each other. 

As part of her mission, Chris organizes and guides Wild Institute trips to some of the most precious natural places in North America: kayaking in Baja, dog sledding  in northern Minnesota, canoeing in Ontario, hiking and paddling in the canyons of Utah. One of her trips, a beginning whitewater canoe weekend, was featured on National Geographic Today.

In addition to guiding trips, Chris is a professional speaker who brings her passion for wild places to conferences, events, and corporations, deftly connecting nature’s wisdom to everyday urban life.

Chris brings common workplace topics such as teamwork, communication, work/life balance, and leadership to life  with humor, clarity and the help of sled dog anecdotes, images from nature, and stories from decades of wilderness trips. 

Speaking professionally since 2000, her client list includes 3M, Qwest, G+K Services, Parks Canada, College of St. Catherine, Michigan Recreation and Parks Association, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and many more.

Chris’ popular weekly poems, "Wild Thoughts," originated from her reflections on our spiritual connection to nature and have grown to several thousand subscribers. "Just Outside the Window," her long awaited first collection of published poetry, was released in December 2008.

Chris also wrote  “Daily Degradations For Women Who Should Know Better” and contributed to “Solo, Silence, and Solitude,” which was published by the Association for Experiential Education. 

Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in recreation and a minor in social work from George Williams College. She’s a certified Wilderness First Responder and a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School. She sits on the board of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Center, is a member of many environmental organizations, and was the recipient of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ 2008 Luminary Award in Minnesota, as well as Upsize Magazine’s “Best Practices in Customer Relations” award in 2007.